With the British Army in The Holy Land
H >> Henry Osmond Lock >> With the British Army in The Holy Land[Illustration]
CHAPTER X
JERUSALEM
Let us trace the fortunes of the 20th Corps, whom we last saw engaged in
the fighting about Beersheba. After the fall of Gaza and Beersheba, most
of the mounted troops went forward in pursuit of the enemy along the
Maritime Plain. These were closely followed up and supported by the 21st
Corps, i.e. the 52nd and 75th Divisions, with the 54th following close
upon their heels. It was impossible at this time to supply more than a
limited number of troops far forward of railhead. So the Divisions of
the 20th Corps after their successful operations at Beersheba and
Sheria, were first moved backwards to rest and re-equip, before going
forward again into the field zone. Of these 20th Corps Divisions, the
60th were the first to go forward. Following along the main
Gaza-Junction Station road, in the footsteps of the 75th and 54th
Divisions, the 60th arrived at Junction Station on the 22nd November, on
which date the head-quarters of the 20th Corps also moved up to, and
opened at, Junction Station. The 60th Division were now lent to the 21st
Corps. They moved forward next day, following along the Jerusalem road
to Enab, and about the 24th or 25th began to take their place in the
fighting on the Neby Samwil ridge. Shortly after the 60th came forward
the 74th. By the time that they got sufficiently far forward, the 20th
Corps were taking over from, and relieving, the 21st, and the 74th
Division soon found itself in the zone of operations to the west and
north-west of Jerusalem. The 10th Division remained in the
neighbourhood of Gaza for a few weeks, until the possibilities of supply
permitted their also going forward. The 53rd Division did not go forward
by the Maritime Plain at all. They remained about Beersheba until the
4th December. Then they moved forward, without meeting with opposition,
along the higher road, that is, through Hebron towards Bethlehem; and
subsequently arrived in the hills at such time and place as their
presence was required for manoeuvring the enemy out of Jerusalem.
While these reliefs were in progress, several determined counter-attacks
were delivered by the enemy in their attempt to dislodge us from the
positions of advantage that we had already gained. At this time our line
was, of necessity, somewhat thinly held, especially towards the sea. The
Imperial Camel Corps, whom we last saw protecting the right flank of the
pursuit from the threat near Beit Jibrin, had been moved across to the
extreme left, where they and cavalry held positions on the north bank of
the River Auja, protecting Jaffa. Further to the right, the line was
carried on by the 54th Division, who thus linked up, along the ridge
north of the Valley of Ajalon, with the 52nd and 75th Divisions then
fighting in the neighbourhood of Neby Samwil. "On the 25th November our
advanced posts north of the River Auja were driven back across the
river. An attack on the night of the 29th succeeded in penetrating our
outpost line north-east of Jaffa; but next morning the whole hostile
detachment, numbering 150, was surrounded and captured by the Australian
Light Horse. Attacks were also delivered against the left flank of our
position in the hills from Beit-ur el-Foka to El Burj and the Neby
Samwil ridge. One such attack was delivered on the 30th near El Burj,
when a counter-attack by Australian Light Horse took 200 prisoners and
practically destroyed the attacking battalion. There was particularly
heavy fighting between El Burj and Beit-ur el-Foka, but all these
attacks were successfully resisted and severe losses were inflicted on
the enemy. All efforts by the enemy to drive us off the Neby Samwil
ridge were completely repulsed.
"These attacks in no way affected our positions nor impeded the progress
of our preparations. Favoured by a continuance of fine weather,
preparations for a fresh advance against the Turkish positions west and
south of Jerusalem proceeded rapidly. Existing roads and tracks were
improved and new ones constructed to enable heavy and field artillery to
be placed in position and ammunition and supplies brought up. The water
supply was also developed. By December 4th all reliefs were complete." A
line was then held from Kushel, about 5 miles to the west of Jerusalem,
along the ridge that runs north-east some 3 or 4 miles to Neby Samwil.
From this point, the line bent back at a right angle, and ran along the
northern ridge of the Valley of Ajalon through Beit Izza and Beit Dukka
to Beit-ur el-Tahta (Beth-horon the Lower), from which point it was
carried west and north-west to the sea.
The enemy held a line approximately facing our Kushel-Neby Samwil line,
protecting Jerusalem from attack from the west or north-west, his front
line being distant about three miles from the city, and artillery and
machine guns being posted in the outskirts of the city itself. He had
two good lines of supply or retreat, namely the north road from Nablus
and the eastern road through Jericho and across the Jordan to Amman
Station on the Hejaz Railway. It will be remembered that, in the words
of the Psalmist, "The Hills stand round about Jerusalem." The Turks were
able to select positions of considerable natural strength in these
surrounding hills. In fact, the country is one continual succession of
hills and valleys, the hillsides steep and rocky, the valleys deep and
strewn with boulders. These positions of natural strength the enemy had
improved by the construction of trenches and strong points and other
devices of modern field engineering.
The general idea of the operations for the capture of Jerusalem was the
simultaneous pressure of three Divisions, whereby the enemy should be
driven off his main roads, and the city be isolated, and so forced to
surrender. The 60th and 74th Divisions had already arrived in the
fighting zone and were occupying positions in the line, the 60th on the
right, about Kushel, and the 74th about Neby Samwil. On December 4th,
the 53rd Division commenced their march from Beersheba up the
Hebron-Jerusalem Road. No opposition was met, and, by the evening of the
6th, the head of this column was ten miles north of Hebron. The infantry
were directed to reach the Bethlehem area by the 7th, and a line about
three miles south of Jerusalem by dawn on the 8th. The 8th was the date
fixed for the commencement of the renewed operations against Jerusalem.
"On the 7th the weather broke, and for three days rain was almost
continuous. The hills were covered with mist at frequent intervals
throughout the fighting, rendering observation from the air and visual
signalling impossible." Great was the discomfort caused to the men by
this rain, fog and mud. The cold was intense, and soldiers who had borne
the brunt of a long day's fighting could not sleep, but just lay huddled
together longing for the dawn. An even more serious effect of the rain
was to jeopardise the supply arrangements, by converting the roads into
seas of liquid mud, rendering them almost impassable, in places quite
impassable for camels and mechanical transport.
By dawn on the 8th, all the troops were in their allotted positions,
except the 53rd Division. It had been recognized that these troops on
the extreme right might be delayed and fail to reach the positions
assigned to them by dawn on the 8th, and arrangements had accordingly
been made for the protection of our right flank west of Jerusalem in
case of such delay occurring. This contingency did occur. The 53rd
Division was held up by mud and fog, and by roads blown up by the enemy,
so that, by the morning of the 8th, it was still some distance south of
Jerusalem; on that day it exercised little or no influence on the
fighting.
During the darkness of the night of the 7th/8th December, and in weather
such as we have described, portions of the 60th Division clambered down
the mountain side, crossed the deep wadi bed in front of the right of
our line, and crept up the steep terraced sides of the opposite ridge
where ran a portion of the Turkish line. One brigade was to make a
frontal attack, while another was to turn the left flank of the enemy's
position, by scaling a spur to the south-west of the village of Ain
Karim. These two brigades stormed the main line of works before daylight
and captured the western defences of Jerusalem. Considerable rifle and
artillery fire was experienced from the outskirts of Jerusalem, so that
it was necessary for our troops to throw back their right and form a
defensive flank facing eastwards towards the city. Artillery support
from our own guns soon became difficult, owing to the length of the
advance and the difficulty of moving guns forward. It thus became
difficult for these troops to attain their subsequent objectives in the
direction of the Nablus road north of Jerusalem. Accordingly, it was
decided, early in the afternoon, to consolidate the line gained and
resume the advance next day, when the right column (the 53rd Division)
would be in a position to exert its pressure.
Meanwhile, the task of the 74th Division was to swing forward, with
their left resting and pivoting on Neby Samwil, to capture Beit Iksa
village and works, and so to swing forward to the Nablus road. They each
captured their first objective, and we were preparing for a further
advance. But the delay on the right made it desirable to check for the
time the advance on the left, and to consolidate the positions already
attained.
By nightfall, our line ran from Neby Samwil to the east of Beit Iksa,
through Lifta, to a point of about 1-1/2 miles west of Jerusalem, whence
it was thrown back facing east. Thus, our main line had swung forward,
circling on its pivot at Neby Samwil, with its extreme right flank
refused. The refused right flank afforded protection against the fire
coming from the city. The main directions of our advance, however, now
menaced, not so much Jerusalem itself, as the main Nablus road a few
miles to the north of the city. All the enemy's prepared defences west
and north-west of Jerusalem had been captured, and our troops were
within a short distance of the Nablus-Jerusalem Road.
That night the Turks withdrew. On the following morning, the 9th
December, the 74th and 60th Divisions, driving back rearguards, occupied
a line across the Nablus-Jerusalem road 4 miles north of Jerusalem.
In the meantime, the 53rd Division had arrived on the scene of
operations to the south of Jerusalem. They bore right-handed, cleared
the Mount of Olives, which commands Jerusalem from the east, drove the
enemy away eastwards, and occupied a position east of Jerusalem across
the Jericho road.
These operations isolated Jerusalem. At about noon on the 9th December,
1918, the city was surrendered.
Two days later General Allenby made his official entry into Jerusalem.
It was a simple ceremony. The General entered the city on foot, preceded
by his aides-de-camp, and accompanied by the commanders of the French
and Italian detachments, by the French, Italian and American military
attaches, and by a few members of the General Staff. Outside the Jaffa
Gate he was received by the Military Governor, and a guard of honour
composed of representatives of troops from the various portions of the
British Empire, which had taken part in the recent operations; while,
inside the walls, were small parties from the French and Italian
detachments which those countries had sent to assist us in Palestine.
Inside the city, at the base of the Tower of David, the ceremony was
concluded by the reading of the Proclamation. Its terms promised that
every person could pursue his lawful business without interruption, and
that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional
site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of
whatsoever form of the great religions of mankind, would be maintained
and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to
whose faiths they were sacred.
CHAPTER XI
THE HOLY CITY[2]
It is beyond the scope of this book to attempt a detailed history of
Jerusalem. It cannot, however, fail to interest those readers who have
followed us thus far, if we glance at a few incidents in the history of
this sacred spot.
Of little importance, perhaps non-existent, in the days of the
Patriarchs, and still in the hands of the Jebusites through the days of
Joshua, the Judges, and Samuel, it first sprang into fame about a
thousand years before Christ when it was captured by King David, who
made it his capital. Solomon built his temple on Mount Moriah, and
prayed to Jehovah that He would especially hear the prayers of His
people when they prayed toward the city which He had chosen and the
House which Solomon had built for His name. Then did this city become,
and has ever since remained, the sacred city of the Jews.
With the advent of Christ, born within a few miles of its walls, Who
here preached and healed, instituted His Holy Sacrament, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried and the third day rose
again from the dead, Who here laid the foundations of the most beautiful
religion that the world has ever seen, Jerusalem became and has ever
since remained, the sacred city of the Christian.
And then, six hundred years later, came the rise of Islam. The great
prophet Mahomet, in evolving his religion, based his teaching upon the
principles of Judaism and Christianity, the prophets of which were to be
honoured, including "the prophet David" and "the Prophet Christ." So, in
accordance with the prayer of Solomon, and until the antagonism between
Judaism and Islam led to the substitution of Mecca, it was towards
Jerusalem that devout Moslems were required to turn when they prayed.
From Mount Moriah did Mahomet, as his followers believe, miraculously
ascend to heaven. And so did Jerusalem become, and has ever since
remained, no less a sacred city of the Mahomedan.
Thus it will be seen that Jerusalem, the sacred city of three mighty
religions, became the most holy city in the world, the poetical
prototype of heaven.
Jerusalem, situate away on the hills and far from the main trading and
military route, was of but little commercial or strategical importance.
Yet we readily understand how its religious value caused it so often to
become the goal and prize of contending creeds and armies. Sometimes the
motive was religious antagonism, as with Antiochus Epiphanes and Titus;
sometimes it was religious devotion, as with the Maccabees and
Crusaders. Pitiful though it be, yet, throughout the ages, the City of
the Prince of Peace has been associated with the most terrible scenes,
the most savage excesses, in the whole dreadful drama of war.
Not once nor twice in the reigns of the Kings of Judah and Israel, did
Jerusalem resound with the clash of arms. Although, after the fall of
the northern kingdom, it was delivered by divine intervention from the
invasion of Sennacherib, yet its submersion by the rising tide of
Babylon could not long be averted. The evil day had only been postponed
and, in 607 B.C., Jerusalem fell before Nebuchadnezzar, before that
power which, like Turkey of yesterday, dominated the whole stretch of
country from the Persian Gulf to the border of Egypt. Twenty years
later, Jerusalem, with the Temple of Solomon, was destroyed, the city,
palaces and temple being levelled in one, and the population were put to
death or led away captive to Babylon.
When, some years later, the capital of the Babylonians was captured by
the Persians and their empire annexed, the Jews were permitted to return
to Jerusalem. In the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. the temple and walls
were rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemiah, and Jerusalem took a fresh lease
of life as a Jewish city.
In the fourth century B.C., when Alexander the Great marched southwards
through Syria to Egypt, securing the Mediterranean littoral before
embarking on his expedition into Asia, overthrowing Tyre in his march
and totally destroying Gaza, the Jews no doubt made their submission,
and their city thus escaped destruction.
After the death of Alexander, Judaea did not escape the anarchy which
ensued during the internecine warfare waged by his generals and
successors. In 321 B.C., Ptolemy I, King of Egypt, advanced against
Jerusalem, and, assaulting it on the Sabbath, the Jew's day of rest, met
with no resistance. He is said to have carried away 100,000 captives,
whom he settled in Alexandria and Cyrene. The founding of a Syro-Grecian
kingdom in Northern Syria brought Judaea again into the unfortunate
situation of a buffer state. Jerusalem seemed doomed to be among the
prizes of an interminable warfare between the Ptolemies of Egypt and the
Seleucidae of Syria and in turns vassal to each.
At the commencement of the second century B.C. Judaea passed into the
hands of the Syrian King Antiochus the Great, who at once proceeded to
ingratiate himself with the whole nation. It was not the tyranny of
foreign sovereigns, but the unprincipled ambition of their own native
rulers, that led to calamities little less dreadful than the Babylonian
captivity. Jason, the High Priest, had been dispossessed by his brother
Menelaus, by double dealing with the Syrian King, who at this time was
Antiochus Epiphanes. A rumour of the King's death having reached
Palestine in 170 B.C., Jason seized the opportunity and revolted against
his brother Menelaus. But the rumour was false.
"The intelligence of the insurrection, magnified into a deliberate
revolt of the whole nation, reached Antiochus. He marched without delay
against Jerusalem, put to death in three days' time 40,000 of the
inhabitants, and seized as many more to be sold as slaves. He entered
every court of the Temple, pillaged the treasury, and seized all the
sacred utensils. He then commanded a great sow to be sacrificed on the
altar of burnt offerings, part of the flesh to be boiled, and the liquor
from the unclean animal to be sprinkled over every part of the Temple;
and thus desecrated with the most odious defilement the sacred place
which the Jews had considered for centuries the one holy spot in all the
Universe."[3]
Two years afterwards, Antiochus determined to exterminate the Hebrew
race from the face of the earth. This produced the revolt of the Jews
under Mattathias, whose illustrious son, Judas Maccabaeus, founded the
Maccabaean dynasty. By 128 B.C., the Jews, under John Hyrcanus, recovered
their complete independence, which they maintained until compelled to
acknowledge the dominion of Rome.
But the native rulers could not govern for long without dissension. Soon
were two more competitors, Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, quarrelling about
the succession to the Jewish throne. The republic of Rome, having
trampled under foot the pride and strength of the great Asiatic
monarchies, assumed a right of interfering in the affairs of every
independent kingdom. The ambassadors of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus
appeared before Pompey, who was then in Syria and was at the zenith of
his power. After subjugating Arabia, Pompey, in 63 B.C., marched
directly into Judaea. Espousing the candidature of Hyrcanus, Pompey
marched against Jerusalem, within the walls of which he was admitted by
the party of Hyrcanus. Aristobulus and his supporters, with the
priesthood, withdrew to the Temple and prepared for an obstinate
defence. At the end of three months, and after great loss of life, the
Romans made themselves masters of the Temple. "The conduct of the Roman
General excited at once the horror and the admiration of the Jews. He
entered the Temple, and even penetrated and profaned with his heathen
presence the Holy of Holies. All the riches he left untouched, and the
Temple he commanded to be purified from the carnage of his soldiers."[4]
He stipulated the tribute which the country was to pay, demolished the
walls of the city, and nominated Hyrcanus to the priesthood, though
without the royal diadem. The magnanimity of Pompey, in respecting the
Treasures of the Temple, could not obliterate the deeper impression of
Jewish hatred excited by his profanation of the sacred precincts.
From this time forward Judaea becomes more and more under the shadow of
Rome. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Antipater, and later, the
Temple, which had become much dilapidated, was demolished, and rebuilt
in great magnificence by Herod the Great. He was the last King of Judaea
with any semblance of autonomy, and, in the year A.D. 6, Palestine was
annexed to the Roman Empire.
We pass over the incidents in the Life and death of our Lord, which, at
the time, could have but little affected current events, but which were
destined to influence so deeply the subsequent history, not merely of
Palestine but of the whole world. And we come to the cataclysm of which
Our Lord had been the sorrowful yet unerring Prophet.
Blinded by religious fanaticism, and convinced that God must fight upon
their side and give victory to His chosen people, be their conduct never
so cruel and their bearing never so arrogant, the Jewish race, though a
mere handful of men, offered war to the mistress of the world. With
little military organization or training, divided by factions and torn
asunder by internal dissensions, they yet dared to defy the mighty power
of Rome. They defeated the ill-starred expedition of Cestius Gallus, and
inflicted upon the Roman arms the most terrible disgrace they had ever
endured in the East. But the triumph was short-lived; a terrible revenge
was at hand. It was in this year, A.D. 70, that Titus laid siege to the
city. At the time, its population was swollen ten or twenty-fold by the
pilgrims attending the Passover. The reserves of food were destroyed in
faction fights even before the Romans arrived outside the city walls.
"Of all wretched and bloody sieges in the world's history, few, if any,
have been more wretched or more bloody than the siege of Jerusalem by
Titus. Fierce and bloody as was the fighting, the deaths from sickness
and famine were yet more terrible. Dead bodies were thrown out into the
valleys, where they lay rotting, a loathsome mass. The number of those
who died in the siege were estimated at 600,000. At night, miserable,
starving wretches would steal into the ravines to gather roots for food;
here they were pounced upon by ambushed Romans and crucified by hundreds
next morning in full view of the battlements."[5] Gradually the
assaulting Romans got possession of portions of the city, yet the
portions still uncaptured refused to surrender, their defenders still
hoping against hope for a divine intervention, as in the days of
Sennacherib. At length the city fell. The Romans, pouring in, began by
slaying indiscriminately. Tiring of butchery, they turned their thoughts
to plunder, but stood aghast at the houses filled with dead and
putrefying corpses. The Temple of Herod was burnt, the city was
desolate, while those whose miseries had not been relieved by death,
were carried away into yet more miserable slavery or to a death more
ignominious at Rome. As a Jewish city, Jerusalem had perished for ever.
Sixty years later, Jerusalem was rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian. He
resolved to suppress altogether the troublesome and turbulent Judaism.
The measures which he took caused the Jews to rise against him under
Barcochebas. This was the wildest and the most bloodthirsty of all the
Jewish revolts; but it was the last. Jerusalem having been recaptured,
Hadrian converted it into a Roman colony, forbade Jews to approach, and
built a temple of Jupiter on the site of the Temple.
It was when the Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity, and his
mother Helena discovered the true Cross and the Holy Places, that
Jerusalem came again into prominence. Thereafter, churches and
monasteries sprung up throughout Palestine, which thus, for a time,
became thoroughly Christianized, under the Christian Emperors of Rome
and Byzantium. But the seventh century saw the fall of the Christian
ascendancy in Syria. In A.D. 614, the Persians, under Chosroes, swept
through the land, massacring the Christians wholesale, and destroying
most of their churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The
withdrawal of the Persians was followed by a brief return of Christian
ascendancy lasting but eight years, under the Emperor Heraclius. And
then, in 637, Jerusalem fell to the growing power of Islam. It was this
new religion, with a calendar only dating from A.D. 622, which was to
control the future destinies of the Holy City.
Islam arose at Mecca and Medina in barren and uninviting Arabia. When it
started on that expansion, whereby it overspread half of the known
world, Syria, from its situation, was naturally the first country to
tempt its restless and devoted Arab warriors. Within ten years of the
Hegira, or commencement of the Mahomedan era, we find the followers of
the Prophet already in Syria. The Byzantine army was overwhelmed at the
battle of the Yarmuk, and the Arabs laid siege to Jerusalem. The city
capitulated to Omar, who granted terms of comparative magnanimity. His
terms gave to the Christians security of person and property, safety of
their churches, and non-interference on the part of Mahomedans with
their religious exercises, houses or institutions. Upon the site of the
Temple, which had been systematically defiled by the Christians out of
abhorrence for the Jews, but which was honoured by the Moslems as the
spot from which Mahomed ascended to heaven, was now erected the Mosque
of Omar. This site became to the Mussulman, the most venerated spot in
Jerusalem, as was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Christian.
When, in after years, pilgrimages to Mecca were temporarily interrupted,
devout Mahomedans made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem instead.